Laborda Vidal, Patricia

A three- year- old spayed female Yorkshire terrier presented with a three- week history of lethargy and weight loss. physical examination showed left exophthalmos with left nasal discharge. a lesion in the left brainstem was suspected based on the neurological examination. pre/postcontrast Ct images were consistent with an extensive subdural empyema in the region of the left forebrain, extending from the level of the frontal to the occipital lobe. at presentation, transcranial Doppler (tCD) ultrasound was performed in the left (lmCa) and right middle cerebral arteries (RmCa) showing marked hyperaemia (lmCa velocity: 81.9 cm/s; RmCa velocity: 90.3 cm/s; reference ranges: lmCa velocity 62.3±10.9 cm/s; RmCa velocity 62.5±10.9 cm/s). a left- sided rostrotentorial craniectomy was performed, followed by medical treatment. tCD was monitored daily postoperatively returning to within the reference range ive days after surgery (lmCa velocity: 54.9 cm/s; RmCa velocity: 63.6 cm/s). normalisation of the systolic velocity was associated with clinical improvement. tCD is a useful and non- invasive method for monitoring of cerebral blood low in patients with intracranial empyema.

Clinical signs, imaging findings and long-term follow-up of 3 West Highland white terrier dogs with constrictive myelopathy secondary to caudal articular vertebral process dysplasia are described. Clinical signs were consistent with an acute or chronic T3–L3 myelopathy in all dogs. Diagnostic imaging revealed hypoplasia or aplasia of the caudal articular vertebral processes, extradural compressive myelographic pattern (hourglass-like pattern) with a reduced diameter of the spinal cord, and focal thickening of extradural soft tissues. Medical treatment initially improved the clinical signs in 2 dogs; however, mild proprioceptive deficits remained in all cases.

Fine needle biopsy (FNB) is an effective, minimally invasive and inexpensive diagnostic technique. Under computed tomography (CT)-guidance, lesions that have a difficult approach can be sampled to reach a diagnosis. The aim of this study is to describe the use of CT-guidance to obtain FNB from vertebral and paravertebral lesions in small animals. Ten dogs and one ferret that had undergone CT-guided FNB of vertebral and paravertebral lesions and had a cytological or a histological diagnosis were included in this retrospective study. The FNB samples were taken in four cases from the vertebra, in two cases from the intervertebral disc and in five cases from the intervertebral foramen. Two infectious and nine neoplastic lesions were diagnosed. The percentage of successful FNB was 91%. The percentage of samples with a cytological diagnosis was 80%. The percentage of complications was 9%. Limitations were the small number of animals in the study, the lacking complementary percutaneous biopsies for comparison, the lacking final histological diagnoses in some cases and the intervention of multiple operators. Computed tomography-guided FNB is a useful and safe technique for the diagnosis of vertebral and paravertebral lesions in small animals. However, a degree of expertise is important.